Monday, May 17, 2004

As May is the dead time between the draft plus first mini-camp until the June cuts plus June mini-camps, I wanted to take a look at the rest of the NFC North. Did each team address their biggest weakness in the offseason? Did any team break up a strength?

Detroit. So many holes, so little time... Detroit had no running back deserving to start and no wide receiver deserving to start opposite WR Charles Rogers, so RB Kevin Jones and WR Roy Williams filled two needs. Detroit did not address their anemic pass rush. Detroit improved their run defense by drafting LB Teddy Lehman and their offensive line signing free agent OL Damian Woody, but both their run defense and the offensive line played well in 2003. Their biggest hole is at quarterback where QB Joey Harrington improved his completion percentage and QB rating in 2003, but regressed in Defense-adjusted Points Above Replacement as calculated by footballoutsiders.com. Unfortunately for Harrington, you can compare his career path so far to fellow Detroit QB Rick Mirer, which is not company Harrington should keep. Detroit should continue to struggle if Harrington stays on the Mirer career path while they continue to have no pass rush and their top rookies are learning their key offensive positions.